Why an umbrella fund? - A conversation with Adelin Coigny, founder of Smile Wave

Founded in 2016, the Smile Wave Fund aims to support public interest projects in the areas of education, social integration and environmental protection, with a particular focus on ocean conservation. It is active in both Switzerland and abroad. We spoke with the fund's founder, Adelin Coigny, to understand what motivates him.

Why did you choose to create an umbrella fund?

The umbrella fund model allowed me to develop my project within a versatile structure. Fondation Philanthropia has helped me to nurture this project and gain experience in the area of institutional philanthropy. The umbrella fund structure is much easier to set up and less expensive than a regular foundation, which means I can allocate more resources to the causes I wish to support.

How do you manage this fund?

Following the initial process of selecting the best partners (environmental and youth integration NGOs), I had a clearer idea of the causes I wanted to support. I was then able to plan the fund's annual distributions based on the analyses provided by these NGOs and by following a few rules I set for myself. For example, I try to cover roughly 10% of an organisation's budget, once it has been recognised as being competent, in order to have a genuine impact on its projects. I give free rein to its managers in terms of creativity and am willing to support structural costs to give them more power to actor to become more effective. It's important to maintain a strict budgetary approach, but also to keep something aside for those special projects that arise.

How much autonomy do you have?

I always meet in person with the organisations I may end up supporting and consult with Philanthropia's advisors to compare my analysis with theirs; this helps to counterbalance my spontaneity with a more thought based approach. I also visit the field a lot. I created a website to highlight the organisations we support. My ambition is to connect the organisations supported by the fund and one day have them work together to combine their efforts. This has already been achieved among some of them, which are working together to establish a marine protected area in the Aeolian Islands, in northern Sicily.